Biography

Born: June 26, 1934 in Emory Gap, TN

Genre: Country

Years Active: '50s, '60s, '70s

One of the chief innovators on the mandolin, Frank Wakefield played straight bluegrass with a number of well-known bands, including Red Allen and the Greenbriar Boys. Born into a musical family in Emory Gap, Tennessee, by age eight he already knew how to play harmonica, guitar, and bass. In 1950, his family moved to Dayton, Ohio, and soon afterward he took up the mandolin and formed the gospel-oriented Wakefield Brothers with sibling Ralph, who played guitar. In 1951, the brothers made their first...